Heading to Nepal

World traveller

INNISFIL — Sarah Ray doesn’t know how to slow down.
The Grade 12 student at Nantyr Shores Secondary School is active in a number of school activities and organizations, while maintaining grades in the mid-90s.
She works part-time at a local pizza parlour and runs her own home-based business, too.
Now, she’s raising money to volunteer her services for four weeks this summer at an orphanage in Nepal.
Ray has registered with a group called International Volunteer HQ, an organization that co-ordinates volunteer projects in more than a dozen countries around the world. She leaves for Nepal in July, just after she turns 18 and graduates.
Ray went to India last summer as part of a contingent of nine teens from across Canada.
“We were up in the mountains, three hours from the nearest city,” Ray recalls. “A highlight was playing with the kids in the village. I finally discovered what I wanted to do with my life – travel and go places and help people. I found my passion. Also, it was a mutual positive.”
Choosing Nepal was fairly easy.
“I wanted to go back to that area of the world,” Ray says. “It’s so beautiful. They (International Volunteer HQ) sent me a 70-page booklet on Nepal to read.”
Ray is especially looking forward to the fact she will be staying with a Nepalese family for the duration of her visit.
“You’re in their home, eating with them and seeing their lifestyle,” she says. “You can’t really prepare for culture shock. You just have to be open minded and take it all in.”
Looking down the road, Ray hopes to attend the Monk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto.
Ray’s mother, Helene, is her biggest supporter.
“It’s a little bit scary, but it’s a well organized group,” Helene says. “I encourage Sarah to spread her wings. She’s wonderful with children and she’s interested I making the world a better place. Sarah paid for her trip to India by herself. I don’t know anyone who works harder.”
And it won’t be all work and no play.
“You do get your weekends off,” Ray says. “I can go trekking in the mountains. I’m all for the adventure.”